Claustrophobic
by PinkCamellia
Summary: Misty has a secret. She confides in Ash what it is. Slight AAMR.
1. Secret

Hi everybody! It's been awhile since a put up a new fic, and this idea just popped into my head, and I wanted to get it posted up. I suspect that this story is only going to be a few chapters long.

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Pokemon, Ash and Misty would have gotten together ages ago.

**Note: **This story takes place in the Johto region.

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**Claustrophobic **

**By:**

**Quynh Nhu**

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"_Ogni cuore ha il suo segreto."  
__Every heart has its secret.  
-__Italian Proverb_

**Chapter 1 – Secret**

_Red, yellow and orange flames sent thick black smoke into the cool night air. The six-year old girl could faintly hear the sounds of sirens wailing and people screaming. But she ignored them. Her mind was currently occupied with a much more important task._

"_Mommy!" She screamed. "Daddy, where are you?" The only answer she received was the snapping and crackling of the flames. She kept running, searching the rooms that weren't burnt into black crisps by the inferno yet. _

"_Mommy! Daddy!" She yelled more desperately. "Please come out! I'm really afraid!" That's when she saw them. Though the smoke was making her light-headed and dizzy and slightly nauseous and though her vision was slightly hazy she could see the unmistakable outline of two large unconscious figures splayed out across the carpeted floor. _

_Realization dawning to her, she began to run towards them as fast as her legs would carry her, but no matter who much she ran, she didn't move a single inch closer to her parents. She opened her mouth to call out to them, but not even a whisper trickled out._

_Suddenly, a string of flames shot out in front of her, separating her mother and father from her line of vision. Then another line of fire shot out of the ground from behind her. More flames erupted from her left and right. She was surrounded. Moisture filled her eyes, as they darted everywhere, looking for some kind of escape route. She found none. She took a deep breath, trying with all her might to stay calm. _

_Then, as if somebody had opened a pipe line filled with gas underneath the fire, the flames soared upwards surrounding her like walls. Her panic levels rose dramatically. She blinked. _

_The flames of hell disappeared, and the little girl was now surrounded by four solid concrete walls. Though she could see no fire, but the smell of smoke still filled her nostrils, and the intense heat of the inferno still remained with her. 'Where am I? Where are my mom and dad?' she thought frantically. 'I have to find them!'_

_Her eyes darted around the tiny room. The walls held no doors or windows. She was trapped. She ran the nearest wall and began to kick at it, hoping she'd be able to knock it down. She had no such luck. _

_She balled her hands into tiny fists and began to hit the wall as hard as she could. No dents were made, not even a tiny scratch appeared. Tears of panic and fear trickled from her teal blue eyes onto her white nightgown, her flame red hair was flying everywhere. Her panic levels began to screech out of control. _

_She pounded harder, suddenly, her chest tightened, then she felt her breathing slow, then stop altogether. The walls disappeared and she saw nothing but black. She felt as if she was drowning and began to kick and flail her arms and legs like a swimmer kicking towards the surface… She crashed the surface. _

**---**

Misty sat upright in her head, nearly knocking her head against the top bunk as she did so, her eyes were wide, and she was gasping for air. Clutching the blanket tightly to her chest, she glanced around taking in her surroundings.

Togepi was sleeping peacefully on the other side of Misty's bed. Her baby pokemon had thankfully, not been disturbed by her trainer's tossing and turning.

Letting her gaze wander, she saw that Ash and Pikachu were sleeping soundly on the opposite end of the room. After listening carefully for a few moments, she determined that Brock was asleep from his silent breathing.

Once her heart rate had returned to normal, she looked at the alarm clock on the night stand next to her bed. It read 12:07 AM. Was it really_ that_ early? She had gone to bed a bit earlier than usual, because she had a light headache. She expected to sleep throughout the night. However, she was wide awake now and she knew she wouldn't be able to fall sleep for a good long while.

Sighing, she shifted her body into a more comfortable position on the mattress. Her thoughts returned to her dream. No. Nightmare. The night of her parents' deaths hadn't plagued her dreams for so long. She had no idea what had brought them up. It was almost like a warning, and little did she know, Misty was in a sense, correct.

That fateful night had been over eight years ago, and even now, she could only vaguely remember the details. The single thing she could recall was the sound of the fire alarms' incessant beeping, waking her from her slumber. She had thrown back her covers, leaped out of bed, run out of her bedroom, and then her dream would take place.

That evening… was a blur, it made her head hurt to think about it. She had awoken in Cerulean City's local hospital four days after the incident. The firemen that had found her claimed that she had been discovered unconscious in her home's hallway closet. She had no idea how she had gotten there. They later told her that she and her three sisters were the only ones who had survived.

She had missed her parents terribly and she still did. And Misty couldn't shake the feeling that if she'd woken up just a few moments earlier, she could have saved her parents. But she did not. And she couldn't go back in time and repeat the whole night, no matter how much she wanted to.

Misty wasn't one hundred percent certain, but is she had to pinpoint a time and place where her claustrophobia began, that would have been it.

That's right. Misty Waterflower was claustrophobic. Misty Waterflower, the tom boy who never _ever _admitted she was scared of anything other than bugs, and bug pokemon was afraid of enclosed spaces. She had never told anyone about it before, and she doubted that she ever would. It was her little secret. All hers.

And besides, it wasn't like she was going to be trapped in a closet ever again in her entire life.

Out of the corner of her eye, a sudden movement caught Misty's attention, causing her to look to the right side of the pokemon center's bedroom. Ash had rolled over in his sleep. His light breathing had turned into soft snoring. His eyes were closed, his mouth was open, and his jet black hair was slightly messier than usual. Misty couldn't help but notice how unbelievably cute he looked when he slept. She couldn't help but smile at his peaceful expression. He just looked so innocent.

She watched him for several moments, completely unaware that any traces of her earlier dream had subconsciously faded away.

A yawn trickled out of her mouth, and she rubbed one of her eyes slowly. With one last glance at her best friend, she laid back down on the bed, gently placing her head onto the soft white pillow. She suddenly realized how tired she really was, so tired, that she couldn't ponder why her heart had swelled to twice its normal size just a moment ago. She rolled onto her side and pulled the blanket over her shoulders and fell into the arms of a dreamless sleep within minutes.

**---**

A loud gun shot caused Misty to sit up straight in her bed for the second time that night. This time however, she wasn't as lucky. With a big 'thump' her head made contact with the top bunk. She swore loudly.

"Owww…" She grumbled.

"Misty are you okay?" Ash's voice asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, rubbing her forehead. She was going to have a nasty bruise tomorrow morning, she could just feel it. She glanced at the alarm clock once again. She felt like she had only been asleep for a few seconds. The clock read 2:11 AM.

"Hey, you guys what's going on?" Brock's voice asked.

"I dunno… but we better go check it out."

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Well, there's chapter one. I'm going to work on chapter two this weekend, so hopefully I'll have it posted up by Monday or Tuesday. 

Any mistakes? Typos? I know there are some in there, but I'm not sure where. It was short, I know. I'll try to make the next chapter longer.

Please leave me a review!


	2. Trapped

Thanks for all the reviews! I'm happy for any type of opinion.

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Pokemon, Ash and Misty would've gotten together ages ago.

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**Chapter 2 – Trapped**

Ash, Misty and Brock ran down the hallway that led to the Pokemon center's lobby. Eerily enough, they met no other trainers along the way.

"What's going on Nurse Joy?" Ash asked the pink haired nurse. "We heard a gun shot."

Nurse Joy looked up at him; there was a panicked look in her clear blue eyes, as she frantically pushed buttons on the video phone. "Someone has broken into the center! I don't know who they are, or what they want, but I have to save the pokemon!" – She slammed the phone back onto its cradle. – "Our police force have very few members, and Officer Jenny is out of town right now, and the station isn't answering!"

"It's okay Nurse Joy, calm down," Misty uttered.

"Yeah," Brock agreed, "We'll help you catch those horrible people and prevent them from stealing anything valuable…" - his tone went from serious to… well, flirty – "like the way you took my heart!" Before he could continue, Misty grabbed him by the ear and dragged him away, shaking her head, and muttering under her breath as she did so.

"Hey Nurse Joy… where are all the other trainers?" Ash asked.

"Almost all of them collected their pokemon and left as soon as they heard the bang, but the very few who are still here are wandering around the center in pairs."

"Then what are we waiting around for? Let's go help them out!" Ash exclaimed. All four of them seemed to have forgotten about the gun shot.

"Hey, not so fast!" Joy called out. "I think someone should go to the police station -it's all the way across town, -and try to help track down Jenny, or any other reliable police officers."

"You're right… why don't you and Brock give it a try?" Ash suggested.

"Umm… are you sure about that?" The nurse asked, somewhat nervously.

"Of course, Misty and I can handle it, can't we Myst?" Misty smiled,

"Sure we can, Ash."

"Alright, but be careful and stay together no matter what happens. The electricity is out, and it's still pretty dark outside. And please, _please _don't do anything stupid."

"Wouldn't dream of it…" Misty nearly fell over at that comment.

With that said, Nurse Joy hurried out of the center, and without a moments hesitation Brock sprinted out of the center, calling a quick 'good luck' and 'see you guys later' over his shoulder to his friends. All was silent for a moment.

"Well, shall we get going?" Misty nodded; carefully tucking her sleeping Togepi into her red shoulder bag then followed Ash down the dark corridor.

They walked in a slightly uncomfortable silence; the only sounds that were heard were the hollow echoing footsteps their shoes made against the floor.

"Maybe I should get Cyndaquil out here," Ash said a few seconds later, while he pulled a pokeball out of his belt, "you know, for a little bit of light…."

"But won't that alert the intruders?"

"Oh… right." He tucked the pokeball back into place. They paused at the end of the hall. There were two different directions they could go. After contemplating for a few moments, they began walking, as slow as ever down the right hand corridor. Everything was eerily quiet. A little _too _quiet.

When all of a sudden….

"Freeze!" Two harsh male voices from behind them called out. Both Ash and Misty leapt about a foot in the air. Once they landed back on the ground, they immediately spun around. The pale moonlight showed the outline of two tall, muscular figures, dressed in all black, making them blend in with their surroundings. Both of them had big, dark, cruel eyes, evil grins that stretched across their fat lips, exposing every single one of their teeth. Those alone gave Misty shivers, but what frightened her most were the small, shiny but still very dangerous silver guns they held in their big hands.

"Don't move. Stay where you are!" they demanded, their deep voices were harsh and lacked warmth.

"Do what we say and we won't hurt you. Now put your hands in the air where we can see 'em." Ash and Misty had no other choice than to do as they were told.

**---**

Misty felt her right-handed shoulder smash against the closet wall as she was roughly shoved in. The push knocked her off balance, and she fell roughly to her knees. With a very loud 'oomph' Ash tumbled in after her and landed just within a foot of her, he was pushed in as well.

"Now you stay in here while we search for any other pokemon and some form of valuables," they grunted as they held up Misty's shoulder bag, and Ash's belt. Their eyes were shooting them threatening looks, as if to say, 'or else…' Then the door was slammed shut with such force, that the ground literally shook. Both Ash and Misty heard a small click as the lock on the other side of the door slid into place.

Almost instantly Ash jumped to his feet and began pounding on the door, and started screaming at the top of his lungs. Misty wasn't sure if she wanted to join him, or scream at him for giving her a slight headache, but she did neither. She carefully placed Togepi, who was thankfully still sleeping in her lap and proceeded to make sure her baby pokemon would be comfortable. There was no telling how long she and Ash would be in there.

After a minute Ash realized it was hopeless to keep banging on the door and sat back down on the ground next to Misty, while Pikachu stood on his shoulder. (A/N: The intruders hadn't taken these two pokemon because they didn't have anything to use to keep them restrained.)

"So, I guess we're stuck in here for a while, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Misty said, all her attention was now focused on her throbbing shoulder. She could detect the scent of moth balls and the small of her own strawberry scented shampoo. Slowly, the pain in her shoulder subsided as she gently rubbed it. After several moments, the pain faded away all together.

Misty looked up at the door, her eyes landed on the knob and she froze. She was in a closet. The door was locked. There was no other way out.

She felt every single muscle in her body tense up. Her thoughts turned into jelly that seemed to have scattered everywhere in her brain. Her mind stopped functioning properly, and then just blanked out all together. Misty began to tremble uncontrollably. She felt beads of perspiration form across her forehead. Slowly, a single drop of sweat began to roll down her cheek as she fought to keep herself from growing hysterical. She wasn't winning the battle.

She felt color rise to her cheeks. Was it just her, or did the temperature increase to what seemed like one hundred degrees warmer in the closet? When had it gotten so hot? It was almost… It was almost like- like standing in the center of a growing fire.

Misty took in a sharp breath, trying to calm her nerves. However, she could no longer detect the smell of moth balls, or any traces of her strawberry shampoo. Instead, the smell of smoke, the smell of wood being burnt filled her lungs.

Fear began to squeeze at her heart. She could've sworn that the flames were coming to get her, just like they had gotten her parents. The more she thought about this, they more she trembled. Her breathing slowly became shallow and uneven; she felt tears stinging at the back of her eyes. But she wouldn't let them fall.

It was then that Ash had _finally_ noticed that his best friend was in some type of distress. "Hey Misty, are you okay?" His voice was filled with nothing but deep concern for her. Togepi began to stir on Misty's lap.

Misty didn't answer him. She didn't even seem to have heard him. She was so afraid. There was no way out. She left like she was trapped.

Trapped.

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Well, there's chapter two. I honestly didn't expect it to be so short. But it is :(. 

Mistakes? Typos? No matter how many times I reread a chapter; there are always some in there.

Hopefully chapter three will be up by Thursday or Friday.

Good or bad, I'll accept any kind of opinion.

Please leave me a review. :)


	3. Confiding in You

I'm sorry I didn't put chapter three up sooner, I planned to start writing it out in my notebook on Wednesday, but somehow I got distracted…. By baking cookies… Lol.

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Pokemon, Ash and Misty would have gotten together ages ago.

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**Chapter 3 – Confiding in You**

"Misty? Misty? Are you okay? Misty!" Ash asked the girl sitting next to him, one of his hands placed on her shoulder, gently shaking her. But he received no response. She was just sitting there, trembling like she was standing in the middle of an icy, cold lake on a chilly October evening.

Ash saw that she was staring at the doorknob with such intensity; her gaze alone could have blasted the door away. He took a closer look at her expression and gaped. Her teal blue eyes, usually so full of life, happiness, excitement, anger, and annoyance (those last two were usually directed at him), were now wide and filled with fear and…

It took him a little while to name the last few emotions he saw. There was pain. Not physical pain, but emotional pain, mixed in with hurt, anger, regret, longing, loneliness and… guilt. He could see tears misting over in her eyes. Misty just seemed so small, helpless and weak. It scared him to see her in a state of fear and panic.

"Misty?" He whispered. No response. He shook her a little bit harder.

"Misty!" Nothing. Now he was really starting to get worried. He didn't know what else to do.

"Pikachu, help me!" The small yellow mouse nodded and sent a thunderbolt at the teenaged girl.

The attack wasn't very powerful. But Misty had let her guard down. And because she wasn't prepared for the assault, the lightning had manged to snap her out of her trance. She blinked, causing the tears to leak out of her eyes. They began to crawl down her face.

"Misty?" She looked at him. That's when she realized her cheeks were wet. She hastily wiped them away with her shaking fingers. She was still trembling, but she could breathe normally, and was thankful for the smell of mothballs that filled her nostrils. "W-why is it s-so dark in h-here?" She hated the way her voice was shaking.

"Umm..." Ash stalled. He slowly put one of his arms in the air. His hand groped around until it closed around the light switch. He pulled it downward. Nothing happened. He pulled harder. A faint click was heard, but the room didn't become any brighter. That's when he remembered that the city's electricity was out. With his mind functioning as fast as it could, Ash leaned back, pressing his backpack against the closest wall. Through the fabric of his vest and t-shirt, and through the material of his knapsack, he felt something hard digging into his back. He slid a hand into his sack and pulled out a small, somewhat oval shaped object. It was… a flashlight.

'_Yes!' _He thought triumphantly, he flicked the switch on, and a silverish light lit up the small closet, he secretly hoped that in some small way, it'd help Misty, just a little bit.

The sudden bright light in her face caught Misty off guard for the second time that night. She had to blink several times before her vision refocused. She looked around, and could see several dresses hanging from the metal bar at the top of the room and a few shoes boxes here and there. They were obviously locked in a closet that held a woman's belongings. Misty felt relieved to know that she wasn't boxed in by four concrete walls, and that she wasn't alone comforted her greatly as well.

"Misty?" Ash asked, "Are you okay?" Misty's brain slowly began to return to its normal thinking rate, but it was several moments before she spoke.

"Yeah… I'm fine…why?" Words couldn't express how happy she felt now that her voice didn't shake, and wasn't small and weak.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" She snapped, suddenly annoyed. "Why?"

"I was just really worried about you… that's all…" She looked into his chocolate brown eyes, they held nothing but sincerity. Her expression softened.

"Really?"

"Really."

Misty averted her gaze to the ground, her eyes staring down at her shoes. She felt the color rise to her cheeks, her heart was pounding in her chest so loudly, that she was surprised no one else could her it. She was secretly glad that it wasn't bright enough for them to see how red her cheeks were turning.

"Misty… can I ask you something?" When her face had returned to its normal color, Misty looked directly into Ash's warm brown eyes and nodded, still trembling slightly. She felt a great deal better now, but she was still afraid and couldn't stop her limbs from shivering.

"You know you can tell me anything right?" He received another nod from her.

"Anything at all?" he continued. Once again, she nodded.

"Good, because I want to tell me _why_ you were so upset earlier."

"I wasn't upset!" Misty immediately protested.

"Yes you were! And you still are! You were all zoned out and you're _still _shaking!" Misty opened her mouth to argue back, but she could not think of any comebacks. She was still trembling after all.

"Misty… just tell me what's wrong… please?" His eyes were filled with such a fierce determination; Misty found that she couldn't tear her eyes away from his gaze. Oh, how she loved that look on him. Whoa. Wait a minute. Loved? No liked. She _liked _that look on his face. Yes, that's what she meant.

She took in a quiet, shaky breath. _'Should I tell him? It would lift a huge weight off my shoulders, and I've kept this secret bottled out inside me for so long… it's eating me up inside… but what if – what if he thinks it's my fault too?' _But Misty couldn't keep everything inside for much longer. She was silent for a little while longer, organizing her thoughts, trying to figure out how and where to start.

Misty was quiet for so long, Ash wasn't sure if she had heard him asking about her problem.

"Myst?" he asked, just as she opened her mouth, took one more deep breath and began talking very softly.

"When I was six years old, I woke up in the middle of the night, because the fire alarm was beeping really loudly. I could smell smoke, and the scent was really strong, it seemed to be coming from everywhere. I got out of bed and started wandering around, looking for my parents…

**---**

"I woke up in the hospital a few days later. The firemen, they - he told me that my sisters and I were the only survivors…" Misty finished. While she was telling her story, her eyes had filled with more tears that she stubbornly refused to shed.

Ash was stunned, shocked. Sure, he'd always wondered why Misty always acted so tough on the outside, when he and Brock knew that she was nothing but a big softy on the inside. But he'd never expected something this tragic had happened to her. He wasn't sure what to say, so instead of talking to her, he put his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a gentle hug. Ash prepared himself for feelings of awkwardness and embarrassment that he was sure he was going to feel, but they never came. It actually felt… nice being this close to her.

There were so many tears welled up in Misty's eyes, she found that they were clouding her vision. Her throat was clogged with so many different emotions. She bit her lip, trying to keep the sobs that threatened to spill out inside her. But she lost the battle. She broke down and cried, like a frightened child lost in the middle of a dark night with no place to go.

She cried until her eyelids grew heavy, and she couldn't help but fall into a restless slumber.

**---**

"Ash! Misty! Where are you guys?" Brock's distant voice called. Both Ash and Misty stirred in their sleep. They yawned and sat up. They both realized that Ash had his arms around Misty at the same time, and they immediately leapt apart, blushing as they did so.

"Brock must be back."

"Yeah…"

They both called out to their older friend until they heard footsteps approaching on the other side of the door. With a small click, the door was jerked open to reveal Brock and Nurse Joy smiling, the sunlight reflecting off their faces.

'_It's morning already?' _

Misty stood up and stepped out of the closet and began stretching. Ash got out and did the same. They felt much better afterwards.

"What happened to the robbers?"

"We managed to catch them in time. Oh… I almost forget." Brock opened his backpack and tossed Ash his belt and threw Misty her own belongings.

"Officer Jenny arrived back to the police station when we got there. -It was definitely a lucky break. - You see, the intruders weren't very bright, and put away their guns before they left the center. We were waiting for them outside, and they were unarmed, so they had no choice but to turn themselves in."

"Then why were we trapped in the closet for so long?" Misty demanded, slightly angry that she was in an enclosed place for longer than she needed to be.

"We were at the station filling out the paper work. Since there we caught the two of them, we thought you guys would be okay…"

Ash smiled, "Yeah we were okay…"

**---**

Misty sat outside on the grassy coated drumlin. Togepi sat on her lap, as a light, gentle breeze flowed through the air. The sun was setting over the horizon, and every single color you could see in a sunset was plastered across the sky. It was a beautiful evening, and Misty was just happy to be out of the closet and in a wide open space filled with fresh air.

The sound of a twig snapping made her turn her head. Ash was approaching her, Pikachu standing on his shoulder. He smiled at her as he sat down next to her, and she smiled back. Both their pokemon leapt away from their master and began playing in the grass. Everything was quiet for a moment.

"Are you okay now?" Misty nodded.

"I'm glad you told me what happened to you and your parents… it's not your fault that they died, and you shouldn't feel responsible. You were just a little girl when it happened, and you couldn't have done anything to stop it." Misty kept her gaze anywhere but into his eyes. Off his lips, it sounded like the truth, and in her heart, a small part of her told her he was right.

Ash wasn't sure what possessed him to do it, but he placed his hand on top of Misty's and gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. She blushed and was glad that he couldn't see her face. He didn't let go of her hand.

"I'm glad you know you can tell me anything." She nodded and still refused to meet his eyes. She was too busy pondering about her claustrophobia to notice how nicely hers and Ash's hands fit together.

And she decided, that maybe, just _maybe _she was just a little less afraid of enclosed spaces, but until she got over her fear completely, it'd be nice to keep Ash around to help her through it all.

* * *

Well, I think that's where I'm going to end it. You might ask why I wrote this story… and it's because I believe there is more to a character than we see on screen. I think that Misty has witnessed some sort of tragedy in her life and that's why she acts so tough on the outside. But that's just my opinion. 

This is probably going to be my last story for the summer, because today's is my older sister's last day of summer school, and because our one and only computer is in her bedroom, and because she's on 24/7 I'm not going to be on too much during the month of August.

Well, what did you think? Please leave me a review!


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